Vancouver Island Mayors Seek Guidance from Ottawa on Pot Shops

The mayors of two of Vancouver Island’s biggest cities are calling on the federal Liberal government to advise them what to do with the illegal pot shops cropping up in their communities and explain more of what the path to promised legalization could look like.

This week, Victoria city council will debate a pot-shop bylaw proposal similar to the one Vancouver passed in June, while Nanaimo’s mayor is trying to ease tensions between operators of 10 dispensaries and the local RCMP detachment, which has threatened to raid the stores if they do not stop illegally trafficking cannabis by the end of this week.

Until now, most of Canada’s illegal marijuana dispensaries have been in Vancouver, where police maintain they must give priority to the sale of heavier drugs, and civic politicians say they stepped in to fill a regulatory void that was left by a federal government unwilling to tackle the file. Experts predict dozens more could open across the country before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s pledge to legalize and regulate recreational sales becomes a reality, which could take two years or more.